Bryce and Jennifer

Raw Love

2012-01-26T09:29:00.000-08:00

I have been really into raw food recently. One of my recent raw obsessions are kale chips from Whole Foods that I have been enjoying on a daily basis (this may be a problem). I am also finding so many recipes online that look amazing. This week is a crazy week for both me and B (lots of after school meetings for him and the opera after work for me) so as a reward, I picked out a few recipes I've been dying to try for us to enjoy Sunday evening after the last show.

Little Italy Pasta with Tomato and Moroccan Olive Marinara Sauce- Recipe

Raw Cashew Cake- Recipe

And this delicious looking bread that is definitely not raw.

Black Bread- Recipe

I plan on substituting the molasses for blackstrap molasses, brown sugar for raw honey, and espresso powder for carob powder.

If anyone goes to see Madame Butterfly this week, please note the bald cap (that's me).

The life of a musician

2012-01-24T10:35:00.000-08:00

Big news in the Coleman household- I got my cello! I am super excited. No, I have never played the cello. I have never been very musically talented and I just love the sound of the cello. I played O Holy Night for B the other day, and it was a total bust- I made him guess what I was playing and his closest guess was Nearer my God to Thee. Anyway, this is my favorite musical and my current cello inspiration so I thought I would share.

In other news-

We started planting our seeds for our garden. The zinnias have been the first to sprout- only two days after they were planted! Now they're on a ladder in our kitchen just below our light fixture. We scaled back on variety this year and we're aiming for mass production instead.

We went to the Heard Museum with my parents for dinner and to see the Apache group Dishchii'bikoh perform. The performance was great and the food was amazing. I found the recipe for their posole on epicurious so I thought I'd share. Recipe

Osa ate five ounces of steel head fish the other day. Add that to 3 cups of raisins, a bag of peanuts, a bag of semi-sweet chocolate (maybe she was going for a trail mix) the skin of one butternut squash, and 140 mg of iron she's eaten over the years.

Teach For America

2012-01-13T13:11:00.000-08:00

Back in October B was accepted to Teach for America, and we both couldn't be happier! The night he got his acceptance email was one of the most exciting of my life. The first email that came simply said he had been accepted. The second email told him that he could go log on to the website and find out his location. Teach for America's mission is to provide students from low income homes an excellent education. Their primary goal is to decrease the achievement gap that exists between low and high income communities. B was assigned to teach in the Eastern North Carolina region where the disparity is quite evident; North Carolina has some of the very best and worst school districts in the nation, some less that thirty miles apart.
When people find out we are moving to North Carolina their first question is often: "Oh, Are you happy about that?" When they hear I have a married sister with four children I can only imagine what the envision!

But here a some of the reasons why we are so excited to live in NC:

Amazing farmers' markets

The four seasons!

Winter
(Occasional Snow)

Spring

Summer

Autumn

The Biltmore

The Beach

Great Universities
UNC Chapel Hill

Duke

Beauty all around

AND

2012-01-04T20:38:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

As you can see I am about the worst blogger ever (I think I have said that before), and I have no clue how people keep up with their respective blogs.

In light of my absence there is no feasible way I can back-log over year, so here are some of the highlights of the past year.

Bread

Bryce became a serious bread maker. B makes various types and some take days to make. All are delicious and I happily eat them.

School

Collectively, we completed 85 credits in 2010 which topped off our senior years. Clearly, school did not leave room for blogging... or sleeping... or taking pictures.. or much of anything else except two full-time jobs and one part-time job- and bread making of course.

B and is teach mentor during the last half of his student teaching.

Interning

B also completed an internship with the State Department of Education. He worked on the Empowerment Scholarship Program which provides financial assistance to special education students.

San Diego

We went to San Diego.... with our dog Osa. I got yelled at by a strange man in a hostel for looking at him and once again, we were drenched by rain in transit, but it was such a fabulous, relaxing trip.

Speaking of Osa, this little bear was taken to the ER- twice.

FYI: Kelly Halvorsen > Union Hills Emergency Pet Hospital > Scottsdale Pet Hospital

Love

Two of our dearest friends got married in L.A. over the summer. The wedding was amazing and L.A. is one of my favorite temples. They are beautiful couple and we are so happy for them.

Jobs

B got accepted to Teach for America. I am so, so proud of him. Teach for America is very selective (less than 10 percent of applicants were accepted last year) and they rarely pick candidates like Bryce who are education majors. Despite an ironing mishap in the morning and a Snapple explosion at lunch, Bryce completed the eight hour interview, and waited an excruciating 8 weeks a victor :)

Bryce's Note: Don't give the bottle a shake without the lid on.

More Jobs

B landed a job as a resource teacher for the latter half of the 2012 school year.

More School

We graduated! Bryce graduated with a Bachelor's in Education and I graduated with my Bachelor's in Business Administration.

Grand Canyon

Bryce and my Dad hiked the Grand Canyon. It was B's first time hiking the Bright Angel Trail and he loved it. The boys hiked in and out in one day, and no one had to be carried out.

Preservative free

B and I gave up foods with preservatives. This of course means we miss out on the delicious bundt cakes at work, cream cheese, and girl scout cookies, but we hardly miss them anymore. Overall, I would say that about 95% of what we eat is preservative free. Occasionally, we still eat out with friends and family, and of course, we happily eat whatever we're served in other peoples' homes =)

2011-05-15T19:29:00.000-07:00

UPDATE

I am in the process of majorly updating our blog- so bear with me.
I am going to back date the entries just so I don't get confused!

2010-11-01T10:45:00.000-07:00

OCTOBER

I don't know what to say because a picture is worth 1000 words, or something like that, but I should mention that we went out to out to eat at Chilis like this and that pretty much rocked.

2010-09-07T10:30:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more gems from our camping trip...

2010-09-07T10:10:00.000-07:00

SEPTEMBER

So Bryce and I took the advantage of our 3-day weekend and decided to get away before all the school madness began (and let me tell you it was sheer madness) and we went camping. It was so much fun! We camped along Fossil Creek and took a day-hike to one of the waterfalls. It was absolutely beautiful! I would definitely recommend going.

Initially, we thought that we were going to sleep in the back of our truck. Bryce was certain that the mattress would fit in the back and then we wouldn't have to deal with all of the "bugs" (Have I mentioned Bryce does not like bugs?) so we put our awesome campershell on the back of truck and squeezed the mattress in the bed. It was super, super hot and super, super squishy in the truck bed so we wound up pulling the mattress out of the truck and sleeping outside. Although there were bugs, the night was beautiful and perfect for sleeping conditions. It was about 65 degrees and the sky was super clear.

In the morning we hiked to the waterfall which was definitely exceeded my expectations. When we got there, people (like, teenagers) were jumping off the side of the waterfall and so we watched for probably 15 minutes or so. I even saw what looked like 12 year old girls and boys jump off and they looked as though they were having a perfectly good time, so I thought that maybe, I too could jump off the waterfall. So, naturally, I had Bryce jump off first. When he was finished he gave me the low down of how exactly the experience went: although you get "a little" pummeled (from the water pushing down) the water brings you right back up and it's OK.

My ability to think rationally and remember details definitely failed me at the time because the thought that my husband is a swimmer and a water polo player completely slipped my mind- besides I thought that if a 12 year old can do it so can I. So for the first time in 26 years I jumped off of something higher than two feet off the ground. Bryce and I both had thoughts about me drowning in the process and let me tell you, "a little" pummeled does not suffice.

Anyway, the up side is that Bryce didn't have to jump in the water and drag me out- I managed to scope out the current before I jumped and I realized that the current would wash me up ashore eventually; so naturally, I just went with the flow and every time my head would come above water I would just take a deep breath (at which point Bryce thought I was drowning).

In the meantime, Bryce was at shore responsible for taking a picture of me in my once-in-a-lifetime pursuit to conquer a waterfall. All ready to take the picture, Bryce dropped his phone in the river!!!! Needless to say, we have NO pictures.

After the waterfall, we hiked back and started to drive back to Phoenix. On the way we came upon the cutest little goat farm! They had amazing goat cheese and goat's milk fudge-- If you are ever in the area you should definitely stop by!

I am that girl.....

2010-08-01T20:00:00.000-07:00

The one who blogs about her plants....

Bryce and I moved out of our 450 sq foot apartment that we adored (seriously) into a lovely home that we are renting for the next year and a half until we finish school.

One of our favorite things about being in the house is the opportunity we have to garden in the back. Bryce and I got started in January with our first round of seeds.

We purchased this Jiffy tray and planted some of our seeds. Peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, peas, herbs, flowers- you name it. Six days later, beautiful green seedlings emerged!

Well, we left the dome lid on and the next day, they all died. We tried to revive them with lots of sunshine (and oxygen) to no avail.

Lucky for us we had purchased 2 jiffy tray so we re-planted all our seeds again just a few days later. We also did a little research and I read on a blog that you have to keep the seeds warm or else they won't germinate properly. Well, I was afraid that our house was a little too drafty for the seeds (this was back in January) so at night, I would put the Jiffy tray in the oven. Let me clarify that the oven was not on, I just thought the oven's insulation would prevent the seeds from getting too cold overnight. Unfortunately I forgot the seeds were in there and turned on the oven. Bryce made a comment about the smell of burning plastic which immediately recalled to my memory that the Jiffy tray was in the oven. I'm pretty sure I baked all of the seeds because nothing ever emerged.

I am happy to say that after our third planting, we had some nice leafy, green, seedlings that made it into the backyard!

Since this is my first season, I haven't really worried about all the mistakes I've made and all the things I don't know about gardening. For example: I have the largest, most glorious (and definitely growing in the wrong season) pumpkin plant. BUT it's growing! And, may I add, bearing giant FRUIT! Win-win. Who cares if we carve pumpkins in August instead of October? I don't know that the pumpkin will know the difference. Just kidding- we are definitely going to eat that sucker, which I'll do gladly and season of the year. I love pumpkin curry... and pumpkin pie... and pumpkin bread.

Beets got planted too late as did the peas. I got three pea pods and two beets the size of a quarter and two that looked like carrots. The mint was ruined by the cat poop and tastes like charcoal...no kidding.

The Arugula, lettuce, yellow crooked neck squash, strawberries all did OK. Both the lettuce and the arugula actually grew really well, and I got about enough arugula to fill two gallon sized zip-loc baggies, but I planted them too late so they got super bitter after about a month. Bryce, who has not eaten a ton of arugula in his life, texted me one day from work to tell me that he has decided he does not like arugula. Lesson learned: don't try to harvest arugula in May... in Phoenix.

The herbs (dill, cilantro, sage, rosemary, oregano, basil), nasturtium, roses, marigolds (they're 3 to 4 feet tall!), sunflowers (they're 12 feet tall!), Geraniums, Petunias, eggplant, watermelon, tomatoes and peppers have all done great! The watermelon vine is totally taking over our backyard, as are the pumpkin plants.

In the beginning I totally thought we were only going to be able to harvest one cherry tomato at time, which presented a bit of challenge, but now we get more than we eat in one sitting.

This is the main stretch of our garden (dually note the grass-- it's definitely new--- fyi: prepping dirt for sod is harder than it looks). These pictures were taken in June so everything has at least tripled in size (except for the sunflowers which grew about another foot or two). Please don't judge my garden- Bryce and I are definitely novices. I did a horrible job at labeling my plants, so everything has been a big surprise. I believe I have properly identified most plants but there are few mystery plants.

Now i just have to get the cats out of our yard. Osa, bless her little itty bitty heart, is no help at all-- I am mostly afraid that she will be attacked by the cats.

Summer of 20-10

2010-05-30T15:41:00.000-07:00

Bryce and I had a pretty fabulous summer. I would blog all the details; but honestly, summer was like five months ago! Crazy. So here are the highlights:

DISNEYLAND My parents invited us to Disneyland! We celebrated my mom's Birthday and had great time!
NORTH CAROLINA - we absolutely LOVE visiting the Deans.Thanks for another great trip!

CALIFORNIA VISITORS
Four of our best friends came to visit and it was so much fun! We didn't take many pictures but we did take a picture of this delicious strawberry pie Kristen showed us how to make. It was devoured in minutes. We also ate about 200 otter-pops and played the cult classic S&G with awesome rounds that depicted cactus-tipping.

2010-04-08T13:04:00.000-07:00

Some of the things that have happened since the last blog:

1) Lo had her babe. Isn't he adorable? He was born February 17, 2010. I still can't get over the fact that it is actually her baby, but then again, look at those luscious lips! Who else could be his Mommie?

2) I drowned in a sea of accounting and calculus and excel formulas (Excel formulas, by the way, I hate).

3) Bryce and I went to Fallon to see Mac get baptized. I'm not going to lie, it was the longest quick trip of my life. We drove 6.5 hours Friday after work, drove another 6.5 hours Saturday morning, attended the baptism and then Drove 13 hours Sunday to make it back home.
I have never before had so much Subway in such a short amount of time.

While in Fallon we got to stay with our friends the Dushanes and it was so fun to catch up!
Bryce taught Mac on his mission for 6 months, about 6 years ago.

3 1/2) I got to stand next a miniature bull.

4) The Colemans and Bremers came to visit for Easter. We took a trip up to Sedona and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

5 1/2) I went to the Easter pageant for the first time.

Also, I did homework in the car for the first time in my life, and it didn't even make me sick!

6) The Mia Maids did dart paining and it was super fun. I prepped the balloons in my kitchen. The balloons kept popping and it got paint everywhere. Luckily, as a MUD graduate, I am a pro at cleaning up anything latex based <3

2010-02-01T16:05:00.000-08:00

So, as some of you know, Bryce and I were planning on heading to Costa Rica this month for a study abroad. Clearly, we are not in Costa Rica.
After much consideration Bryce changed his major to Special Education. I am so excited for him, and I think his new major suits him well. Upon graduation, Bryce will not only be certified to teach Special Ed in grades K-12, but also any class K-6 and Mathematics 7-12. AND... he will graduate a year earlier than expected (I believe this is the fourth scenario, win-win-win). It turns out that it was definitely for the best, as many of the Costa Rica semesters are getting canceled last minute with no refunds.

I, on the other hand, technically, have no major. No worries, I have a whole week or so to decide. It will definitely be in the Business College (ASU or NAU Distance). Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, Business Law, Marketing..... oh the choices. Some people say that Accounting sucks the soul out of you but I disagree. Have you met my father? He totally has a soul. And I don't quite mind all the accounting (most days).

Regardless, as long as I successfully complete my 19 credit semester this spring, we will both be graduating in December 2111, so mark your calender!

Oh Christmas Tree.

2010-01-15T15:20:00.000-08:00

I don't even know where to begin blogging about Christmas. Can I just say it was wonderful? It all started with Kristen coming out from California for a visit and commenced with a month vacation from school. Pure bliss. Since this year we spent Christmas with the Rojas side (Cookie, Dad, Mom, Jared, Katie, Geoffrey, Ava, Mason, Chase, Bryce, me, the absentee Roji.... Osa) we didn't have to travel.... also blissful. My brother Matthew and his wife Katie stayed in Colorado because they were expecting their little baby (fourth baby) any day! Grant Luis Rojas was born on December 28, 2009. He is so cute! And sooo little! We can't wait to meet him. Although we definitely felt the Roji absence this year, we got to video chat with them a few days before Christmas and after Katie and Grant were home from the hospital... I love technology!
Her are the Christmas highlights:
1. Geoffrey, Ava and Mason came over for a sleepover. Other than Ava waking up in the middle of the night throwing up, it was a huge success! It all started when Bryce ran and picked up some Chick-fil-A for dinner since we had been gone all day. We were all enjoying or delicious nuggets when the kids found my secret stash of tootsie pops. (Do I need to articulate my love for tootsie rolls?) They of course inquired if they could have one, and fulfilling our duty as Aunt and Uncle we said yes. Mason however, has had a few life-threatening moments with mints before, so I felt obligated to communicate the importance of not chocking on the lollipop. I must have told him like ten times to only lick it. Well, the good news is I can be very convincing to a two year old: Mason nodded his head very seriously and began licking his last chicken nugget very carefully. How can something be so gross and so cute at the same time? Anyway, we didn't do the best job taking photos but this one is super cute, I can't resist...

2. Can you guess how many puzzles we put together? 1. 2. 3. 4. Booya. Sometimes it got a little tough. On this one puzzle (not pictured) there was this big Christmas tree in the puzzle and it was completely heinous. We thought about putting the puzzle back in the box before the tree was done, but we knew we would be ashamed of ourselves so we kept going. THIS puzzle below was one of my favorites from this year:

3. The Christmas Eve pig. So, this year we had traditional Cuban food for Christmas Eve dinner. mmmm..... Well, said pig was supposed to take like three hours to cook, long story short, it did not. So by seven when the little puerco was still roasting we decided that we'd just eat the rest of the food for dinner and have a late night snack of pig. So we had the best black beans (seriously) poured over copious amounts of rice and fried plantains while my dad told us the following story: (I was a bit distracted by the tasty beans, so forgive me for mistakes in the story...)
So when my dad was growing up, they'd always have this pork roast for Christmas Eve dinner. One year, my father's uncles decided to get a live pig and butcher it at home. Well, I guess everyone was arguing over who had to do the dirty deed and how the dirty deed was going to be executed (excuse the pun) that the pig got loose. After a brief chase after their Christmas Eve dinner, the pig got away and the original Roji family had a consolation dinner at a diner.
Our pig wasn't so lucky and finally conceded to its fate of being roasted and was ready for consumption around nine or ten.

This blog is getting so long, that I think I'm starting to bore myself. So lets just say that we had a lovely Christmas, and we can't wait for December again!

noviembre

2010-01-13T23:41:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving a la Coleman style...

So this year for Thanksgiving Bryce and I stayed in Phoenix, and had a wonderful holiday! All alone. We even cooked our first Turkey! Thanks to Martha Stewart I'd say it was a success with only minor problemos: 1. We didn't find the bag with the turkey organs until we carved the turkey and 2. the pumpkin pie was a little over-spiced... edible non the less! We also made homemade stuffing, roasted veggies, and baked artichoke hearts. I also departed from the Rojas ways (we loove canned cranberry sauce... it's a total anomaly) and made homemade cranberry sauce. Bryce and I love cooking together so it was a fantastic day. We spent the rest of our holiday time watching movies, shopping, sleeping in and painting. Which brings me to my next point.....

Bryce and I recently moved (I'll blog details about it later) so we spent some of our Thanksgiving weekend prepping the house. Bryce set his sight on this Palm tree stump in the backyard, so in honor of my high school Biology teacher, who hated Palm trees, we dug that sucker out! (By 'we' of course I mean Bryce) Words cannot express how much I love this picture...

SO even before Thanksgiving was Bryce's Birthday! He celebrated by going to school and studying! What a true sign of a responsible adult :) He was at school until six and then up until 12 or 1 finishing papers and studying for tests We of course celebrated when the semester was over and all his hard work paid off with great grades.

That is all for November. Good night blogger friends.

Halloween

2010-01-08T08:31:00.000-08:00

Bryce and I participated in Halloween this… no, last year. Can you guess what we are dressed up as? I realize now that I didn’t quite cut Bryce’s mask right, but it’s close. Also, don't laugh at/judge me, it's the best Emmy Rossum face I can make....

Bryce was very committed to his costume and super glued the mask to his face.

So truth be told, Bryce and I love singing the music from Phantom in the car. We sing it loud and do all the parts and we think we are so funny, so I thought it was only appropriate.

I am a bad blogger.

2010-01-07T10:09:00.001-08:00

I can't believe I haven't blogged anything since October. I will start to update this thing, starting with Halloween. Yikers. Stay posted!

México

2009-10-12T09:34:00.000-07:00

As a tribute to Mexico, I thought about making this whole blog en español, but my better judgment told me no... I don't want to embarrass myself :) Nonetheless, our trip to Mexico was great! We went down with the Lauren & George and Emily & Paul on Friday. The drive was quite enjoyable, and Bryce and I have become quite the road trippers! We are both so busy at home it was nice to spend the weekend to together relaxing and enjoying each others company. We were lucky enough to stay in a condo right on the beach in Puerto Penasco. Bryce and I had never been before, and we had the perfect guides for our first trip; George grew up vacationing in Mexico, and Paul served his mission in Guatamala. Saturday George took us to this reef to go snorkeling and I loved it! It freaked me out at first because there were thousands of fish and I was afraid of them, but then I realized that it was pretty silly to be afraid of anything that weighed less than an once and has no defense mechanism other than to swim away.
We also enjoyed jumping the waves, playing games, a bit of shopping, eating delicious Mexican food and just relaxing. I also found it really interesting when we drove through some of the towns and saw where and how people lived. It revived my love for traveling and learning how others live and about different cultures.

Thanks for such a fun trip guys!

I Voted Today!

2009-10-07T16:52:00.000-07:00

SO
SHOULD
YOU!

This blog is for my Bff Lauren! We met when we were nine years old. Let me do the math for you: that was sixteen years ago! Well Lauren and I have always had lots of things in common and one of the deepest and most abiding loves we share is for all things Disney... especially Disney Parks. As you may or may not know she is pregnant with her first baby! baby Willis is due on Valentines Day.
OK, now that you know: 1. Lauren loves Disney and 2. She is pregnant.... click here, then read the rest of my blog.

So that's how she told her husband they were expecting! Her husband George didn't know until he saw the picture after the ride was over :)

For those of you who are die hards like myself (and Bryce mind you), you can vote once a day :)

Celebration Week

2009-09-29T15:59:00.001-07:00

Last Monday September, 21^st Bryce and I celebrated our Second Anniversary! Sometimes I look at Bryce and say, "I can't believe we're married!" You would think the shock value would have worn off by now; perhaps I'll never get over how amazing life can be when you get to share it with someone you love so much.

The traditional gift for the second wedding anniversary is cotton, so Bryce and I decided to get this awesome chair we found at good will about a year ago re-covered. It took us forever to find a fabric that we both loved, but we finally found this pretty grey jacquard. The chair is still in the process of being recovered, but I am so excited to see how it turns out!

That evening, we went to Christopher's for dinner and enjoyed a delicious lamb dinner. For Labor Day Bryce and I cooked a rack of lamb and loved it, so we had been craving lamb for a few weeks and finally got our fix. After dinner we were too full to enjoy our awesome cake baked from the bakery that made our wedding cake, so we ate if for breakfast the next morning.

I was so excited for our anniversary that my birthday snuck right up on me! Katie and her family had been in town for a few weeks so Sunday night we got to celebrate my Birthday along with Jared's Birthday with my family at my parents. It was pretty breathtaking; 8 racks of lovely ribs. I'm happy to report that we did not finish all the ribs but now have the best leftovers ever. The delicious ribs were topped off with two amazing cakes and Mason bonking his head on the tile; win-win-win-lose. Luckily no one entered a food induced coma or need stitches, so no trips to the hospital were necessary; win-win.

Yesterday, my morning started with breakfast at Mimi's Café with Lauren. This was particularly awesome because Lauren took me to Mimi's Café with some of my friends for my 18^th Birthday! SEVEN years ago! This time, instead of talking about boys and homecoming, we talked about homes, and jobs and husbands and babies (her baby, not mine). I feel so lucky to have such an awesome friend to celebrate so many of our Birthdays together. After breakfast I got to spend some time with my mom shopping (our favorite past-time) and eating delicious sushi. When Bryce came home from school we had a delectable dinner with some of my most favorite foods; cheese, fruit, salami, olives and sparkling Pomegranate juice.

So far 25 has been pretty awesome.

Exciting Happenings

2009-07-08T22:18:00.000-07:00

1. Bryce started ASU on Tuesday!

Side note: On the fourth of July I tried to make Bryce ASU cupcakes. They were red velvet with gold cream cheese frosting. Well, they all MELTED over night, except for five miracle cupcakes (one for each person who was present for the celebratory dessert).

His classes are in the afternoon and evening so he's been taking the bus down to Tempe from work. Bryce loves riding the bus. At first I think he was especially excited because he loves to talk to strangers and I hate talking to strangers. But on the bus, he has a captive audience and I am not there to stop him, so he chat to his hearts content. However, Bryce has found out what all of us 'bus riders' know, that the conversation on a bus, isn't always... high quality. He told me yesterday that he just tries not to make eye contact anymore :)

Also, someone stole Bryce's bike!!! The scene of the crime was ASU during his math class. This wasn't just any bike either. It was our wedding bike! And it had a brand new tire. Bryce locked it up, but it was gone by the time he got out of class :(

2. On June 30, 2007 Bryce Daniel Coleman proposed at the Newport Beach Temple. In honor of this special day Bryce planned a secret date. Unfortunately I accidentally saw the email
confirming our pink jeep tour reservation and ruined the surprise, but we had a great time!

The landscape was don't do it justice. This little spring had dozens of little frogs hopping around, each probably weighed half an ounce, they were so small!. We got to see Thunder Mountain, the tallest mountain in Sedona. Apparently it gets struck by lightening all the time(hence the name). Also, there is speculation that Sedona's Thunder Mountain, is where Walt Disney received his inspiration for Disneyland's Thunder Mountain. Who knew Arizona had a such a redeeming quality?! We also learned about Mormon tea. Ephedra anyone? Just kidding.

I've got some ocean-front property in Arizona...

2009-06-25T14:26:00.000-07:00

We got to go back to NC, this time to the BEACH! May May and Poppa rented this awesome house. The weather was beautiful and we even got to enjoy some rain! The water was warm and there were tons of shells on the beach! All the cousins minus Chase went in the waves! Very courageous I thought. We had an awesome week of relaxation with family

Katie's Birthday!

Carmen.... she was such a trooper in the waves to say the least!

Roji

Poppa

Ava & Lucy

May May and some of the girls

Eden L-O-V-E-S the sand....

and the water... can you find her?

It took Mason a few days before he actually wanted to go in the water.

Our home away from home!

view from the Balcony

Katie wanted to make sure that future Chase didn't think we left him at home.

I <3 NC

2009-05-27T19:30:00.001-07:00

Bryce and I have had a super awesome summer so far! May was the end of the semester for us! It was super great. I took my first accounting class and I actually loved it! The day after finals Bryce and I went to North Carolina to visit the Deans. We watched all four Dean children for three days while Katie and Jared were away.

Here are some highlights of our trip:
1. Seeing how big Chase has gotten! He was supper cute and so so good! He would coo and smile at laugh at us. No matter where he was, if Chase got tired he would just fall asleep .

2. Geoffrey asking Bryce if he was speeding while driving. Bryce was actually going three mph under the speed limit, but Geoffrey wanted to make sure.

3. Geoffrey giving up his dinosaur skeletons as parting gifts to me and Bryce.

5. Watching Bryce coach Geoffrey and Ava in the country club pool.

6. Playing pictionary & Apples to Apples with Katie and Jared after the kids went to bed.

7. Playing pictionary & Apples to Apples with Ava and Geoffrey. Ava and I made a superstar team. We relate well to each other :)

9. Learning Katie's savvy shopper ways.

10. Listening to Ava converse with herself while she showered.

11. Taking Mason, Ava and Chase strawberry picking.

13. Going to model homes in Cary.

14. Spending the morning at a science museum about NC in downtown Raliegh.

15. playing tennis with the Deans at SAS.

16. Listening to Ava's knock knock jokes in the car.

17. going to Ginza and watching Mason react to the Chef... "OOooh... woah, Ahaa!"

18. Playing Ginza in the Dean's backyard.

19. Listening to Mason say "hi Bwyce" over and over. His little voice is just so cute.

20. Going to Ava's ice cream social with Mason and Chase.

21. Being told by everyone I met that I sounded just like Katie.

22. Going to Chick fil-A twice in one week.

23. Enjoying the rain!

24. Bryce making a scavenger hunt for the kids, and then Geoffrey making a scavenger hunt for Bryce and myself.

26. Eating delicious desserts Katie & Jared brought back from the Biltmore.

27. The unveiling of the mii the kids made for Bryce. It has smiley eyes.

It's fun to stay at the YMCA!

2009-03-31T22:07:00.000-07:00

Recently, Bryce has been a busy bee at the YMCA.
One of his newer responsibilities is editor for the Scottsdale YMCA branch news page.

Check it out: http://valleyymca.org/scottsdaleparadise/news.cfmhere:

His duties now include, membership retention specialist, swim coach, branch web page editor, email receptionist... and counting :)

2009-03-27T14:26:00.000-07:00

UPDATE!

With the demise of my very first laptop the DELL, RIP, I wasn't able to keep up my blogging. Now that the Lenovo has arrived I can update everyone on what we've been up to these days.

November

You say Mikcupo I say Mikado...

During the Mikado, my co-workers and I made these fancy cups depicting Ko-Ko, Katasha and the Mikado himself. It was a great production!

During my stay in Tucson, Bryce met me for the weekend and got to see the show! We also went to the Tucson zoo, which was pretty cool because the animals were so close to us.

Bryce's 24th Birthday!

(Like the Show)

For Bryce's Birthday, I tried to plan a day that involved all things Bryce. Primarily, good food, sparkling beverages, window shopping at Best Buy, and movies. I also painted him this pumpkin which is lasting forever! It must be a good sign. <3

Thanksgiving

Bryce got to play football in the rain in the morning and then we had an amazing dinner at the Rojas'. We had such a great Thanksgiving! I don't know why they're not smiling...

The next Day...

we picked out our first Christmas tree together! It looks super cute in our apartment. At night we would turn on all our Christmas lights, and Bryce would make beanies.

December

We spent Christmas week in California!

Unfortunatley Jennifer had the flu most of the time, but it was great to see everyone. We got spend a day with the Normans, and celebrate Kristen's golden birthday! On Christmas day we went to the Wild animal park with the fam.

January

I went to North Carolina to visit the Deans and meet Chase for the first time. It was so much fun, it made me want to move out east!

This is Mason playing with the wii. By that I mean, this is Mason waving around the wii remote that doesn't any batteries.

February

For Valentines Day Bryce and I went up to Sedona.

It had snowed the night before and was absolutely beautiful! It was by far the best Valentines day ever <3>

2008-12-10T17:20:00.000-08:00

Welcome little Chase!

Katie had her fourth baby on December 8, 2008;
Chase Jared Dean, 8 pounds 7 ounces. Chase already has an awesome head of hair, and is just as cute as his brothers and sisters!

Chase was born into a pretty stellar family.
At about age 14, one of my life goals became to be as awesome as Katie (I'm still working on it) ... Katie and Jared are loving, smart and just plain amazing parents, and Geoffrey, Ava and Mason are as charming and kind, as they are adorable (which is a lot).

We can't wait to meet him!

Also, he looks so much like his brother Mason, who looks like my Dad!

Chase: left
Mason: right

2008-10-28T17:34:00.000-07:00

Gracie <3

Sometimes in the morning when Jennifer is supposed to be getting ready for the day, she will go outside and brainstorm ways to catch this cat instead.

Jennifer thinks Gracie and Osa would be best friends.

2008-10-25T12:47:00.000-07:00

Bryce has been working as a swim coach at the YMCA the last few months for the Stingrays. Bryce coaches the younger kids who have taken quite a liking to him. One week when Bryce was gone, a little girl cried and said she wanted "Mr. Bryce" to come back. Too bad the kids at the ACES didn't share that same sentiment.

Bryce had his first swim meet for the YMCA Friday night and it was almost as crazy as a StuGo event planned by position X, if you get my drift. There were over 80 kids participating, and probably over 150 people in attendance total. The high school right next to the YMCA was having homecoming, so pretty fireworks would go off each time the home team scored a touch down. Lucky for us Chaparral has a good football team.

2008-10-22T21:59:00.000-07:00

ARIZONA OPERA

Jennifer just finished the first opera of the season Rigoletto. The show started in Tucson at the Tucson Convention Center. There were four rehearsals during the week, and shows Friday and Saturday night. Bryce was able to come to Tucson for the weekend and we got to eat at La Parilla Suiza a la Tucson- very tasty!

The following weekend the show wrapped up in Phoenix at Symphony Hall. The show was a great start to the season! Jennifer worked on three of the principals who played the Duke and Madelena, as well as some work on the super-numeraries.

Below is a video of the quartet where Madelena and the Duke sing with Rigoletto and Gilda.

After the show Bryce brought down delicious chicken and we ate on top of the Chase parkinglot. We had a great view of downtown! Afterwards, we topped the night off with a quick walk around Temple grounds and ice cream at the George and Lauren's.

Rigoletto Synopsis

Music by Giuseppe Verdi
Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave after Victor Hugo's play Le roi s'amuse
First performed on March 11, 1851 in Venice
Place: In and around Mantua
Time: 16th century

Act 1

During a ball at his palace, the Duke of Mantua tells of his designs on a beautiful girl he has seen in church. Then, admiring Count Ceprano's wife, the Duke rejoices in the beauty of women and his libertine hedonism (''Questa o quella''). When the Duke's flirtatious dance with Countess Ceprano draws the couple into another room, Rigoletto, the court jester, mocks the woman's enraged but helpless husband. The nobles, delighted by the Duke's daring, are even more amused when Marullo bursts in with the latest gossip: Rigoletto is keeping a young mistress. The jester has been so free with his jibes that Ceprano plots with other courtiers to punish him. Monterone, an elderly nobleman, forces his way in and denounces the Duke for seducing his daughter. Ridiculed by Rigoletto, Monterone hurls a father's curse at both jester and Duke.

On the way home that night, Rigoletto broods over Monterone's curse. Sparafucile steps from the shadows, offering his services as an assassin. The jester dismisses him, reflecting that his own tongue is as sharp as any murderer's dagger (''Pari siamo!''). As he enters his courtyard, Gilda, his daughter, comes out of the house to greet him. When she asks about her long-dead mother, Rigoletto describes his wife as an angel (''Deh, non parlare al misero''), adding that Gilda is everything to him. But he will not reveal his name or allow her to leave the house except to go to church. Rigoletto warns the housekeeper, Giovanna, to admit no one (''Ah! veglia, o donna''). He runs into the street when he hears someone at the gate; at the same moment, the Duke, in disguise, slips into the courtyard, bribing Giovanna to keep her quiet. The Duke declares his love to Gilda, who has noticed him in church (''È il sol dell'anima''). He says he is ''Gualtier Maldè,'' a poor student. At the sound of footsteps -- Ceprano and Borsa are rallying courtiers outside -- Gilda begs him to leave, and they exchange excited goodbyes (''Addio, speranza ed anima!''). Repeating his name (''Caro nome'' ), Gilda goes up to bed. Meanwhile, the courtiers stop Rigoletto and ask him to help abduct Ceprano's wife, who lives across the street. The jester is duped into wearing a blindfold and holding a ladder against his own garden wall while the courtiers break into his house (''Zitti, zitti'') and carry off Gilda. When Rigoletto hears her cry for help, he tears off the blindfold and rushes in. Not finding Gilda, he remembers Monterone's curse (''Ah! la maledizione!'').

Act 2

In his palace, the Duke is distraught over the kidnapping of Gilda, whom he imagines alone and in tears (''Parmi veder le lagrime''). When his courtiers return, saying they took her and she is now in his chamber, he dashes off to the conquest (''Possente amor mi chiama''). Soon Rigoletto enters, searching for Gilda. Though the courtiers are astonished to learn she is his daughter, they bar his way. He lashes out at their cruelty, then weeps for mercy (''Cortigiani! vil razza''). Gilda appears and runs in shame to her father. Alone with Rigoletto, Gilda tells of falling in love at church, of the Duke's courtship, of her abduction (''Tutte le feste al tempio''). When Monterone is led through on his way to the dungeons, Rigoletto declares he will avenge them both (duet: ''Siì, vendetta'').

Act 3

Rigoletto and Gilda wait outside the inn where Sparafucile and his sister, Maddalena, live. Rigoletto makes Gilda look through an opening in the wall. She sees the Duke, disguised as a soldier and laughing about the fickleness of women (''La donna è mobile'' ), trying to seduce the assassin's sister. Rigoletto cautions his daughter and plots revenge, as Maddalena draws out the libertine (quartet: ''Bella figlia dell'amore''). Telling Gilda to dress as a boy, the jester sends her to Verona, then pays Sparafucile to murder the Duke and leaves. A storm breaks. Gilda returns to overhear Maddalena urging her brother to spare the stranger. Sparafucile agrees to substitute the next person who comes to the inn. Gilda, resolved to sacrifice herself, knocks at the door and is stabbed. Rigoletto returns to claim his prize -- only to hear his supposed victim singing in the distance. Frantically opening the sack, he finds his daughter. Gilda dies asking forgiveness.

Our 1 year Anniversary

2008-10-11T14:18:00.000-07:00

Our trip was so great! After

a wonderful day at Disneyland,we spent our anniversary at Downtown Disney. We had

a great dinner at the Jazz Kitchen and watched the F i r e w o r k s in the plaza. We of course topped the night off with

Sketch 'n Guess.

2008-10-11T13:55:00.000-07:00

Disneyland

where dreams come true

To celebrate our one year anniversary, we headed to our old stomping grounds in California. It wa super fun to be in Disneyland again! The park wasn't very busy so we were able to hit all our favorite rides in both parks, and enjoy all our favorite Disneyland snacks all in one day!

Tower of Terror was our favorite ride.

Disneyland

2008-10-11T11:09:00.000-07:00

Since we ate the top of our wedding cake about two weeks after our wedding, we ordered a cake from the same bakery we ordered our wedding cake from, "Barb's Bakery." It was amazing- Champagne cake with butter cream filling, and cream cheese frosting!

Dinner at the

Jazz Kitchen.

Minnie as Princes Amidala

2008-10-10T16:15:00.000-07:00

Pre-Birthday dessert at the

Blue Bayou

2008-10-10T15:40:00.000-07:00

It's tough

to be a

bug.

we <3>

Teacups

Space

we <3>

California

Screamin'

Disney's

California

Adventure

2008-10-10T15:30:00.000-07:00

Splash Mountain

2008-10-10T15:06:00.000-07:00

We have never been quite so drenched....

We met up with some friends from our ward in Arizona to ride Splash Mountain. There was an estimated 1200 lbs. on that boat... needless to say we all got totally soaked, to the core!

Disneyland

2008-10-10T14:48:00.000-07:00

Storybookland Canal......

Although Jennifer practically lived in Disneyland,

she had never been on the Storybookland Canal Boats.

Disneyland

2008-10-10T14:36:00.000-07:00

Star

Tours

Han Solo and Padame about to enter....

Disneyland

2008-10-10T14:18:00.000-07:00

Disney Trivia

At one point in Disneyland History,

Tomorrowland's

foliage consisted of all edible plants like these greens

and ornamental peppers. Today, not all of the

plants are edible, but many still are!

2008-10-07T15:00:00.000-07:00

UPATE

2008-09-23T12:06:00.000-07:00

The summer of 2008 has been a busy one,

with love in the air!

The weekend after celebrating Lauren and George's wedding, we left for California to the Kandice/Zac wedding. We are happy to report, both couples are happily enjoying married life!

It was wonderful to see friends and family. We of course made a trip to Harbor House at Sunsetbeach, CA. We even found a few moments to slip away to the beach.

Greetings!

2008-07-10T20:27:00.000-07:00

We are excited to launch our blog, so we can stay updated with all our friends and family!